{
 "id": "neon-donut",
 "type": "art",
 "names": {
  "name": "Neon and the lit sign",
  "aliases": [
   "the hot sign",
   "the neon ring"
  ],
  "said": "The sign is on before anything else in the building is."
 },
 "region": [
  "us"
 ],
 "facets": {
  "kind": "neon"
 },
 "text": {
  "what": "Signs that advertise by light: a neon ring, a lit arrow, a plastic panel with DONUTS in red, and the hot sign that says the fryer is going.",
  "story": "Krispy Kreme's hot sign has an origin in the schedule rather than in advertising — Vernon Rudolph sold hot donuts to people who turned up during the midnight-to-four production run. Tunnel-oven shops from the early 2010s keep it lit all day.\n\nSpudnut signs are a different kind of survivor: the franchise that sold them reached more than 300 shops in 38 states by 1954 and then vanished, leaving the signs on independent shops.",
  "today": "A shop's sign is usually older than its owners, and reads as the shop's real name whatever the paperwork says."
 },
 "kin": [
  {
   "to": "hot-now",
   "as": "The two words.",
   "rel": "term"
  },
  {
   "to": "spudnut",
   "as": "The vanished franchise on the sign.",
   "rel": "donut"
  },
  {
   "to": "the-sign-outlives-the-owner",
   "as": "What that does to a directory.",
   "rel": "story"
  },
  {
   "to": "giant-donut-roof",
   "as": "The daylight version.",
   "rel": "art"
  }
 ],
 "sources": [
  "s:wp-krispy-kreme",
  "s:wp-spudnut-shops"
 ],
 "provenance": {
  "default": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme"
  },
  "fields": {
   "names.said": {
    "tier": "tradition"
   },
   "text.today": {
    "tier": "inference"
   }
  }
 },
 "schema": 1,
 "confidence": "high",
 "updated": "2026-09-16",
 "images": [
  {
   "file": "neon-donut/neon-donut-donut-shop-neon-sign-on-santa-monica-boulevard-in-we-fdd247d.jpg",
   "source": "commons",
   "title": "File:Donut shop neon sign on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, California LCCN2013631566.tif",
   "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Donut_shop_neon_sign_on_Santa_Monica_Boulevard_in_West_Hollywood%2C_California_LCCN2013631566.tif?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original",
   "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ADonut_shop_neon_sign_on_Santa_Monica_Boulevard_in_West_Hollywood%2C_California_LCCN2013631566.tif",
   "license": "Public domain",
   "license_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain",
   "author": "Carol M. Highsmith",
   "credit": "Library of Congress\n\nCatalog: http://lccn.loc.gov/2013631566\nImage download: https://cdn.loc.gov/master/pnp/highsm/24300/24388a.tif\nOriginal url: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/highsm.24388",
   "alt": "Title: Donut shop neon sign on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, California\nPhysical description: 1 photograph : digital, tiff file, color.\nNotes: Title, date, and keywords provided by the pho",
   "date": "Taken on 3 January 2013, 20:51 (accordin",
   "primary": true,
   "sha256": "3390c5d3167a850e9641868d8abf7817d15a9a631b33d3d0496ba148e9099f62"
  },
  {
   "file": "neon-donut/neon-donut-the-donut-pub-lower-west-side-manhattan-nyc-3879206573.jpg",
   "source": "commons",
   "title": "File:The Donut Pub, Lower West Side, Manhattan, NYC (3879206573).jpg",
   "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/The_Donut_Pub%2C_Lower_West_Side%2C_Manhattan%2C_NYC_%283879206573%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original",
   "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AThe_Donut_Pub%2C_Lower_West_Side%2C_Manhattan%2C_NYC_%283879206573%29.jpg",
   "license": "CC BY 2.0",
   "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/",
   "author": "Jazz Guy from New Jersey, United States",
   "credit": "The Donut Pub, Lower West Side, Manhattan, NYC",
   "alt": "Great neon sign. They have great donuts too!",
   "date": "Taken on 30 August 2009, 21:12",
   "primary": false,
   "sha256": "43080e1ec1351eb0c0e43cd3815b50a2b7813153011afe0acb880134a1278be6"
  }
 ],
 "blurb": "Signs that advertise by light: a neon ring, a lit arrow, a plastic panel with DONUTS in red, and the hot sign that says the fryer is going.",
 "region_terms": [
  {
   "key": "us",
   "name": "The United States",
   "state": null,
   "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country"
  }
 ],
 "kin_out": [
  {
   "to": "hot-now",
   "type": "term",
   "name": "Hot now",
   "as": "The two words.",
   "rel": "term"
  },
  {
   "to": "spudnut",
   "type": "donut",
   "name": "Spudnut",
   "as": "The vanished franchise on the sign.",
   "rel": "donut"
  },
  {
   "to": "the-sign-outlives-the-owner",
   "type": "story",
   "name": "The sign outlives the owner",
   "as": "What that does to a directory.",
   "rel": "story"
  },
  {
   "to": "giant-donut-roof",
   "type": "art",
   "name": "The donut on the roof",
   "as": "The daylight version.",
   "rel": "art"
  }
 ],
 "source_list": [
  {
   "id": "s:wp-krispy-kreme",
   "kind": "web",
   "title": "Krispy Kreme — Wikipedia",
   "publisher": "Wikipedia",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krispy_Kreme",
   "accessed": "2026-09-16",
   "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0"
  },
  {
   "id": "s:wp-spudnut-shops",
   "kind": "web",
   "title": "Spudnut Shops — Wikipedia",
   "publisher": "Wikipedia",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spudnut_Shops",
   "accessed": "2026-09-16",
   "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0"
  }
 ],
 "tiers": {
  "text.what": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme"
  },
  "text.story": {
   "tier": "cited",
   "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme"
  },
  "text.today": {
   "tier": "inference"
  }
 },
 "primary_image": {
  "file": "neon-donut/neon-donut-donut-shop-neon-sign-on-santa-monica-boulevard-in-we-fdd247d.jpg",
  "source": "commons",
  "title": "File:Donut shop neon sign on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, California LCCN2013631566.tif",
  "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Donut_shop_neon_sign_on_Santa_Monica_Boulevard_in_West_Hollywood%2C_California_LCCN2013631566.tif?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original",
  "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ADonut_shop_neon_sign_on_Santa_Monica_Boulevard_in_West_Hollywood%2C_California_LCCN2013631566.tif",
  "license": "Public domain",
  "license_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain",
  "author": "Carol M. Highsmith",
  "credit": "Library of Congress\n\nCatalog: http://lccn.loc.gov/2013631566\nImage download: https://cdn.loc.gov/master/pnp/highsm/24300/24388a.tif\nOriginal url: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/highsm.24388",
  "alt": "Title: Donut shop neon sign on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, California\nPhysical description: 1 photograph : digital, tiff file, color.\nNotes: Title, date, and keywords provided by the pho",
  "date": "Taken on 3 January 2013, 20:51 (accordin",
  "primary": true,
  "sha256": "3390c5d3167a850e9641868d8abf7817d15a9a631b33d3d0496ba148e9099f62"
 },
 "tag_facts": [],
 "recognition_facts": [],
 "acclaim": 0,
 "kin_in": [
  {
   "from": "spudnut",
   "type": "donut",
   "name": "Spudnut",
   "as": "Spudnut signs are half the reason those signs get photographed.",
   "rel": "art"
  },
  {
   "from": "giant-donut-roof",
   "type": "art",
   "name": "The donut on the roof",
   "as": "The other thing on the roofline.",
   "rel": "art"
  },
  {
   "from": "mr-spudnut",
   "type": "art",
   "name": "Mr. Spudnut and the mascots",
   "as": "What outlasted them.",
   "rel": "art"
  }
 ]
}